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  • Chess: Honor peerless Petrosian

    Washington Times, DC
    March 20 2004

    Honor peerless Petrosian


    By David R. Sands


    Armenian chess enthusiasts this month organized a strong invitational
    event to mark the 75th anniversary of the birth of the late, great
    Soviet world champion Tigran Petrosian. Petrosian, born in Georgia of
    Armenian parents, was world champion from 1963 to 1969, losing the
    title to Boris Spassky.
    Armenian GM Karen Asrian won the tournament with a 6-3 score, but
    Petrosian's namesake, 20-year-old Armenian IM Tigran L. Petrosian,
    did quite well for himself, finishing with an even 41/2-41/2 score
    despite being the second-lowest-rated player in the field. The
    international master pinned a loss on Russian GM Mikhail Kobalia in
    Round 4, outplaying his higher-rated opponent for much of the game
    and surviving a blunder-filled scramble just before the first time
    control.
    In a Kan Sicilian, White's 16. Nxc3 0-0 17. Nd5!? is an almost
    standard Sicilian motif. Petrosian gets the better game if Black
    accepts on 17...exd5?! 18. exd5 Rfe8 19. dxc6 Ba6 20. Qf3, with the
    White c-pawn clogging Black's game. Black sidesteps that with
    17...Qd8 18. Nxf6+ Bxf6, but White boldly enters a tactically
    complicated line that gives him a comfortable advantage.
    Thus: 19. Qb5! Bxb2 20. Nxa5!? (bold or foolhardy, depending on
    your tastes, as 20. Qxb7 Bxc1 21. Rxc1 Ne5 22. Nd4 looks like a safer
    way to obtain an edge) Bxc1 21. Nxb7 Nd4! (perhaps the only way to
    remain in the fight) 22. Qd3 Qb6 23. Rxc1 Rxa4 24. Na5. White has two
    bishops for a rook and pawn, but Kobalia at least has eliminated
    White's queen-side pawns.
    Better for Black would have been 25...Qb3!, eliminating one of
    the bishops on 26. Qxb3 Nxb3 27. Rb1 Nxd2 28. Nxd2 Rd4 29. Nf1 f5.
    Black's center and king-side become problems after the game's
    25...Qb5?! (the pins of the White knight along the diagonal and the
    c-file prove transitory) 26. Be3 Rc8 27. Bxd4 exd4 28. Bf1! Qc5 29.
    Rc2! Rc7 30. Ne3, and White's pieces suddenly become much more
    active.
    Petrosian drives the Black rook back and then switches abruptly
    to the other flank with 34. Qa2 Rb8 35. Qd2!, with the threat of 36.
    Qg5 g6 37. Ne7+ Kg7 38. Nd5. But it looks as if both players were
    short of time as the position grows critical.
    There followed 35...g6 36. Nh6+ Kg7 37. h4?? (trying to open more
    lines, but overlooking that the knight is precariously perched; 37.
    Ng4! keeps the focus on Black's numerous weak king-side squares)
    Rb1?? (returning the favor; on 37...Qh5!, White's best now appears to
    be 38. Nxf7 Kxf7 39. Qxd4 Rb1 40. Qxd6 Qb5 41. Qc7+ Ke6 42. Qc8+,
    with a draw) 38. Ng4.
    The knight has escaped, and White must simply work his bishop
    into the attack. Still a move short of time control, Kobalia makes
    things simple with a second oversight: 38...Qc1? 39. Qxd4+, losing a
    pawn outright and leaving his king in the lurch. Black resigns.
    The real Tigran Petrosian is the chess equivalent of a
    postgraduate degree, a player with a style so distinctive and subtle
    that it baffled even many strong players of his day. Though
    criticized for being too cautious, Petrosian actually was a superb
    tactician, a world-class speed player and the one Soviet grandmaster
    even Bobby Fischer unreservedly admired.
    Consider today's diagrammed position from Petrosian's win over
    strong West German GM Wolfgang Unzicker in a 1960 team match, three
    years before he wrested the world crown from Mikhail Botvinnik.
    White's strategy here is given close scrutiny in American IM John
    Watson's brilliant 1999 treatise "Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy,"
    a book in which Petrosian games are cited frequently.
    As Watson notes, White has a distinct advantage on the queen-side
    but no clear avenue for penetration. Petrosian's uncanny solution:
    transfer his king from g1 to a2(!), pound open some lines on the
    newly vacated king-side, and then shift back to the c-file when
    Black's forces have been diverted.
    The execution includes some nice tactical points. If, for
    example, 38...Qxb5, White wins with 39. axb5 a4 40. b6 Rad7 41. Na5
    Ra8 42. Rxd6! Rxd6 43. b7 Rb8 44. Rc8 Rd8 45. Rxd8 Rxd8 46. Nc6. The
    opening of the g- and h-files causes Unzicker no end of headaches, as
    he must constantly guard against getting his queen pinned and against
    an invasion by the White queen at h8.
    With Black badly tied up, the action shifts back to the c-file,
    now with devastating impact: 50. Qh2! Bf6 51. Rc8! Rad7 52. Nc5! b3+
    (desperation) 53. Kxb3 Rd6 54. f5! (threatening both the queen and
    55. Qxd6) Rb6+ 55. Ka2. Since 55...Qxf5 56. Rxd8+ Bxd8 57. Nd7+ picks
    off the rook, Black resigns.

    Tigran Petrosian Memorial Tournament, Stepanakert,
    Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenia, March 2004
    Petrosian Kobalia
    1. e4 c5 21. Nxb7 Nd4
    2. Nc3 e6 22. Qd3 Qb6
    3. Nf3 a6 23. Rxc1 Rxa4
    4. g3 b5 24. Na5 e5
    5. d4 cxd4 25. Nc4 Qb5
    6. Nxd4 Bb7 26. Be3 Rc8
    7. Bg2 Nf6 27. Bxd4 exd4
    8. Qe2 Qb6 28. Bf1 Qc5
    9. Nb3 Qc7 29. Rc2 Rc7
    10. 0-0 d6 30. Ne3 Qa7
    11. a4 b4 31. Rxc7 Qxc7
    12. Na2 Nc6 32. Nf5 Qc5
    13. Bd2 a5 33. Qb3 Rb4
    14. Rfc1 Be7 34. Qa2 Rb8
    15. c3 bxc3 35. Qd2 g6
    16. Nxc3 0-0 36. Nh6+ Kg7
    17. Nd5 Qd8 37. h4 Rb1
    18. Nxf6+ Bxf6 38. Ng4 Qc1
    19. Qb5 Bxb2 39. Qxd4+ Black
    20. Nxa5 Bxc1 resigns

    U.S.S.R.-West Germany Match, Hamburg, Germany, 1960
    Petrosian Unzicker
    1. d4 Nf6 29. Kf1 Kf8
    2. Nf3 e6 30. h4 h5
    3. Bg5 d5 31. R1c2 Kh7
    4. c4 c6 32. Ke1 Kg8
    5. Qc2 Be7 33. Kd1 Kh7
    6. e3 0-0 34. Kc1 Kg8
    7. Nc3 h6 35. Kb1 Kh7
    8. Bf4 Nbd7 36. Qe2 Qb7
    9. cxd5 cxd5 37. Rc1 Kg7
    10. Bd3 a6 38. Qb5 Qa8
    11. 0-0 b5 39. f4 Kh7
    12. a4 b4 40. Qe2 Qb7
    13. Na2 Ne8 41. g4 hxg4
    14. Nc1 a5 42. Qxg4 Qe7
    15. Nb3 Ba6 43. h5 Qf6
    16. Bxa6 Rxa6 44. Ka2 Kg7
    17. Qd3 Ra7 45. hxg6 Qxg6
    18. Rfc1 Nd6 46. Qh4 Be7
    19. Bxd6 Bxd6 47. Qf2 Kf8
    20. Rc6 Nb8 48. Nd2 Rb7
    21. Rc2 Nd7 49. Nb3 Ra7
    22. Rac1 Nb6 50. Qh2 Bf6
    23. Qb5 Nc4 51. Rc8 Rad7
    24. Nfd2 Nxd2 52. Nc5 b3+
    25. Rxd2 Qa8 52. Kxb3 Rd6
    26. Rdc2 Rd8 54. f5 Rb6+
    27. Rc6 g6 55. Ka2 Black
    28. g3 Kg7 resigns

    David R. Sands can be reached at 202/636-3178 or by e-mail at
    [email protected].
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